Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I am seeing an influx of those "enter your email address and claim your free gift" sites with a keyword in URL (usually hyphenated).
Since 2 weeks ago I decided to block them and started seeing same sites reappearing under different domain names, which reinforces my decision.
I haven't noticed any significant increase or decrease in earnings, there was a dip lasting couple of days after I started to block them, which recovered later.
What are other publishers doing with those sites?
Regards,
Albl
I prefer the ads on my sites to be a good reflection of the sites. Maybe I'm costing myself money, but I don't care for sites that have tons of the "free gift just for registering" ads.
But what do you do when your niche seems to get more of these than ads for "real" products or services?
Usually I have 2 ads in a 336x280 block, but whenever I change my filter list significantly there are 4 ads shown until adsense adjusts itself (1 - 2 days). So to draw any conclusions I need to keep changes for 10-14 days to be certain the smartpricing is adjusted too.
They say some will require you to open lines of credit and be approved and use it, If it was really a free stuff giveaway we'd hear about this on the news.
This morning it appears that while my CTR on that site appears the same, the eCPM on that site has doubled. Granted, it's way too early to tell for sure, I'll keep watching it.
If it was really a free stuff giveaway we'd hear about this on the news.
It has been all over the news :)
It's not a new thing it all. It's just incentive based marketing. Nothing real shady about that, they just put a different spin on it to make it viral.
I've seen it work many times. It's not easy by any means, but it's not a scam.
I'd think the definition of a scam would entail intention on the part of the advertiser to NEVER give the free thing away. If it's simply difficult to get the free thing, then are these sites "scams"?
In any event, even if there isn't intention to defraud, and simply an intention to hook people in with the promise of something for nothing, I personally think these ads make our sites, and therefore G, look bad. But if G doesn't get rid of MFA's, why should we think they'd do anything about these?
fredw wrote:I finally bit the bullet last night and filtered eight advertisers from one of my sites that were consistently showing "something for free" ads.
This morning it appears that while my CTR on that site appears the same, the eCPM on that site has doubled. Granted, it's way too early to tell for sure, I'll keep watching it.
How many page impressions does your site get? I noticed slightly downward trend in eCPM after blocking the "free gifts" sites earier, which could be totally unrelated but it wasn't upwards. My site is showing about 15000 ads daily.
My eCPM still seems to be up, but that just may be a coincidence...
Marcia: For me, these ads were very well targetted, "Answer a quiz and get a free Red Widget". That's why I was so hesitant to block them.
Ann
Many users here have stated the belief, some backed up by actual complaints of ad clickers, that these sites either make it extremely hard to get the free thing that is offered, or money is indeed required in the small print, or worse of all cases, free merchandise is simply never delivered.
These ads wouldn't be such a big problem if it wasn't compounded by the fact that my site (and others, it seems, as this new thread was started by someone else) was inundated with these ads, with nothing else showing, until I recently filtered them all.
Well the free part is still a bold faced lie. Since it aint free that makes it a scam
Actually, it can be free, so it's not a lie at all.
Again, it's a very old marketing model with a new spin.
Now whether or not you agree with that method of marketing or whether or not the ads are targeted for your visitors is a whole different question.
As for legit or not, I can say from experience that they are legit (at least the major companies offering the service are).
Already lost a lot of ground since Nov, I need a recovery period not to mention a click dump for today. lol
Ann
No one gives away thousand dollar prizes for filling out a form. And this hasn't been all over the news. This argument is like those infomercials that claim they have the worlds greatest science invention that you're only hearing about at 3am on cable TV, it's for suckers. Don't be one. Or even worse don't help others rip people off because they give you a penny.
IMHO of course.
Rodney you keep saying it's legit, what have you ever seen someone get for free from these ads were currently being flooded with?
Would it matter to you really if I listed the items? You seem already convinced that it's a scam.
I will say that I have first hand received a couple of ipods, a sony psp and other products.
I don't think the issue here really is if they are legit. I think it's already proven that the major players in the incentive marketing industry are legit (check g4techtv, nbc, cnn, wired, etc).
Debating the business model is really a topic for a marketing forum, not the adsense forum.
I think the bigger issue is if the ads are relevant for your users.
The ads themselves admit you have to pay so why are you arguing otherwise unless to rationalize your actions?
The ads I've seen don't say you have to pay. I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
-offers are a scam and anyone who knowingly helps them is part of the scam.
Again, that's a discussion for a marketing forum. I don't think the offers are a scam at all. I think it's a valid marketing technique and customer acquisition model:
Company A pays Company B to get Company A more customers.
Company A pays Company B a lead fee for each new customer Company B sends.
Company B offers Consumer C a free trial (or sometimes a low cost trial) of Company A's products or services and in return, Company B will send you a gift (provided that you get 5 other friends to try Company B's products as well).
The excuse that I'm just taking money from a cut of the scam so I'm not part of the problem is false. Anyone displaying these is a participant in ripping off their viewers and are hurting adsense for everyone, even if you make a few pennies.
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. But I would say from experience that it seems to be a valid way to gain customers.
Now to bring this all back, if you feel that the ads diminish the quality of your site or are irrelevant for your visitors for whatever reason, then block away.
But to say the whole industry is a scam is like saying all forums are scams because there are some scammers that run forums.
No one gives away thousand dollar prizes for filling out a form.
There's more to it than that (as explained above). Just like the earlier example about satellite TV, there are always rules to read about anything. I think consumers are smart enough to realize that.
And this hasn't been all over the news.
Actually it has. Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it hasn't shown up. There are many media articles about it if you do a search. I think we can link to major media, so here's one link:
[adage.com...]
Again, my point is that if you don't like the ads or don't feel they are relevant and you prefer to block, that's your right.
But the business model in general is not a "scam". It may not reflect what you want your visitors to see on your site or be in line with your business model, but it's not a "scam".
The links that are flooding adsense right now from domains containing -offers and onlinerewardcenter are scams.
[edited by: martinibuster at 11:45 pm (utc) on Mar. 31, 2006]
[edit reason] cleanup. [/edit]
That talks about a "come-on" for free condoms. Not really backing up your claim.
If you read the article, it talks about other items, like ipods.
Here's a nice clip from the article for you:
Not a scam
Although sometimes derided as a scam, it’s not, at least through [company name removed] and a few other established players. The process may be time consuming or include difficulties persuading friends, but the legit ones do pay out the iPods when the customer completes all the steps.
That's just one article. There are many others.
The links that are flooding adsense right now from domains containing -offers and onlinerewardcenter are scams.
Like I said, not all of them are scams and those are the ONLY links that people aren't discussing here.
Just like any industry, there will be legitimate players and there will be scam artists.
Just decide whether or not to block them based on all the facts.
[edited by: martinibuster at 2:36 am (utc) on April 1, 2006]
[edit reason] minor cleanup. [/edit]
Don't really know what to do here, after I allowed the gift sites back in my eCPM is 10% higher. However I don't want to offer scam to my users, nor do I want to lose money, but I can't verify the free gift sites because of geolocation.
Now this brings the same old scam ads issue again. Why do I as a publisher have to police scam ads that google happily accepts? I may be able to filter it out shortly after it appears but may be not.
If someone knows of a free gift sites directory where scams are listed please sticky-mail me.
